Whereas, Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King
and Queen of Spain and of the Islands of the Sea, our
Sovereigns, this present year 1492, after your Highnesses had terminated
the war with the Moors reigning in Europe, the same
having been brought to an end in the great city of Granada, where on
the second day of January, this present year, I saw the
royal banners of your Highnesses planted by force of arms upon the
towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of that city,
and saw the Moorish king come out at the gate of the city and kiss
the hands of your Highnesses, and of the Prince my
Sovereign; and in the present month, in consequence of the information
which I had given your Highnesses respecting the
countries of India and of a Prince, called Great Can, which in our
language signifies King of Kings, how, at many times he, and
his predecessors had sent to Rome soliciting instructors who might
teach him our holy faith, and the holy Father had never
granted his request, whereby great numbers of people were lost, believing
in idolatry and doctrines of perdition. Your
Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote
the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine
of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me,
Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries
of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to
learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them
to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed
by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly
route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that
any one has gone. So after having expelled the Jews from
your dominions, your Highnesses, in the same month of January, ordered
me to proceed with a sufficient armament to the said
regions of India, and for that purpose granted me great favors, and
ennobled me that thenceforth I might call myself Don, and be
High Admiral of the Sea, and perpetual Viceroy and Governor in all
the islands and continents which I might discover and
acquire, or which may hereafter he discovered and acquired in the ocean;
and that this dignity should be inherited by my eldest
son, and thus descend from degree to degree forever. Hereupon I left
the city of Granada, on Saturday, the twelfth day of May,
1492, and proceeded to Palos, a seaport, where I armed three vessels,
very fit for such an enterprise, and having provided
myself with abundance of stores and seamen, I set sail from the port,
on Friday, the third of August, half an hour before sunrise,
and steered for the Canary Islands of your Highnesses which are in
the said ocean, thence to take my departure and proceed till
I arrived at the Indies, and perform the embassy of your Highnesses
to the Princes there, and discharge the orders given me.
For this purpose I determined to keep an account of the voyage, and
to write down punctually every thing we performed or
saw from day to day, as will hereafter appear. Moreover, Sovereign
Princes, besides describing every night the occurrences of
the day, and every day those of the preceding night, I intend to draw
up a nautical chart, which shall contain the several parts of
the ocean and land in their proper situations; and also to compose
a book to represent the whole by picture with latitudes and
longitudes, on all which accounts it behooves me to abstain from my
sleep, and make many trials in navigation, which things will
demand much labor.
[Columbus' fleet caught sight of land on October 11, 1492.]
Sunday, 14 October [1492]. In the morning, I ordered the boats to be
got ready, and coasted along the island toward the north-northeast to examine
that part of it, we having landed first at the eastern part. Presently
we discovered two or three villages, and the people all came down to the
shore, calling out to us, and giving thanks to God. Some brought us water,
and others victuals: others seeing that I was not disposed to land, plunged
into the sea and swam out to us, and we perceived that they interrogated
us if we had come from heaven. An old man came on board my boat; the others,
both men and women cried with loud voices--"Come and see the men who have
come from heavens. Bring them victuals and drink." There came many of both
sexes, every one bringing something, giving thanks to God, prostrating
themselves on the earth, and lifting up their hands to heaven. They called
out to us loudly to come to land, but I was apprehensive on account of
a reef of rocks, which surrounds the whole island, although within there
is depth of water and room sufficient for all the ships of Christendom,
with a very narrow entrance. There are some shoals withinside, but the
water is as smooth as a pond. It was to view these parts that I set out
in the morning, for I wished to give a complete relation to your Highnesses,
as also to find where a fort might be built. I discovered a tongue of land
which appeared like an island though it was not, but might be cut through
and made so in two days; it contained six houses I do not, however, see
the necessity of fortifying the place, as the people here are simple in
war-like matters, as your
Highnesses will see by those seven which I have ordered to be taken
and carried to Spain in order to learn our language and
return, unless your Highnesses should choose to have them all transported
to Castile, or held captive in the island. I could
conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased.
Near the islet I have mentioned were groves of trees,
the most beautiful I have ever seen, with their foliage as verdant
as we see in Castile in April and May. There were also many
streams. After having taken a survey of these parts, I returned to
the ship, and setting sail, discovered such a number of islands
that I knew not which first to visit; the natives whom I had taken
on board informed me by signs that there were so many of
them that they could not be numbered; they repeated the names of more
than a hundred. I determined to steer for the largest,
which is about five leagues from San Salvador; the others were some
at a greater, and some at a less distance from that island.
They are all very level, without mountains, exceedingly fertile and
populous, the inhabitants living at war with one another,
although a simple race, and with delicate bodies.
This excerpt was made in conformance with the conditions of use attached
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(c)Paul Halsall Mar 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu